HOUSTON

[DomeHolmes]

Houston plays Rider and we play Monmouth before we meet. They will either be #1 or #2 (would not be surprised if Purdue jumped them back).

Their results have not been very impressive before today. I watched a little of the Lehigh game. And I watched most of Auburn today. Two things stood out. Auburn took 33 foul shots and only made 21. Houston only took 12 foul shots. If Auburn shoots better from the line they would’ve won the game. Auburn’s size gave Houston trouble. Houston plays three guards and Auburn has a big team. Auburn consistently got the ball in the paint and passed well among their bigs, and got fouled.

They are going to be relentless, tough, athletic, won’t beat themselves, etc. this team plays like the Brunson Nova team on O. And of course plays their own great defense. (Second best in the country by the numbers)

But I do not think they are the best team in the country. And they have not shown it.

-they only averaged 73 points a game, playing a similar schedule to us.
-Auburn let up 70 points a game to 3 cupcakes and Houston only did three points better.
-they are susceptible to good interior passing.
-they are not the Uber physical team that they have been.
-Their numbers for assists, steals and blocks are very similar to ours
-They only go six deep with scorers. ( Playing them day 2 would’ve been better).
-they play two freshmen a lot just like us.

I think there’s a couple things that we need to do to have a chance. The first is not turn the ball over. The second is to use our size at the three with Kingz and White on Uzan.
They appear to be our best defenders. And then we can play Freeman on the perimeter with White on the block on a 6’9” 6’4” mismatch. I really believe White’s ability to defend a guard, and size advantage could be the key to the game if we take care of the ball.

 

[phreddie]

Watch out for their frosh, Flemings. Despite the presence of vets Uzan & Sharp, much of their offense goes through him. He seems to be tge real deal

 

[Cuse_NYC]

To me, it was typical Houston. Their starting 5 is unbelievable. The refs played a major part in keeping this close. 33ft to 12 and 23 fouls to 14. Road game, yet not a true road game. If we hang in and have a chance to win, Nait and Kiyan need to be extremely good with the ball. Their extended defense and traps are the best in ncaab.

 

[Orangezoo]

To me, it was typical Houston. Their starting 5 is unbelievable. The refs played a major part in keeping this close. 33ft to 12 and 23 fouls to 14. Road game, yet not a true road game. If we hang in and have a chance to win, Nait and Kiyan need to be extremely good with the ball. Their extended defense and traps are the best in ncaab.

They have struggled to get separation this year so the opportunity is huge here. Not to mention this will be their biggest reliance on freshmen in a while including their top and pretty much only guy who produces on the bench is also a frosh.

 

[baggerbob]

They have struggled to get separation this year so the opportunity is huge here. Not to mention this will be their biggest reliance on freshmen in a while including their top and pretty much only guy who produces on the bench is also a frosh.

This is a game where Donnie, Kyle, and White, can make a difference. Get to lose balls kingz
also should help in that regard. Red needs to play the bench use different type of pressure and traps, make it a helter skekter type of game and force Houston to have to go deep into their bench.

 

[Cuse_NYC]

They have struggled to get separation this year so the opportunity is huge here. Not to mention this will be their biggest reliance on freshmen in a while including their top and pretty much only guy who produces on the bench is also a frosh.

I agree a very short and eh bench. Starting 5 prob best in country imo

 

[bballbeadle]

Hey, let’s not look beyond MONMOUTH, ok?

 

[Newhouser]

Need to play thru contact. Something we have stunk at for quite a while.

 

[Cusefan0307]

Houston typically is never great offensively. Their bread and butter is in the other end of the court.

 

[SimonSays]

they pass the eye test for me IMO

 

[Orangezoo]

This is the first year in the run of years with Houston being a top 10 team where they are relying heavily on production from freshmen. They have a great trio of freshmen that have shown up already big time so it may not matter much but going full throttle for 40 minutes and having more depth can certainly help us playing a younger team.

 

[STEVEHOLT]

Houston plays Rider and we play Monmouth before we meet. They will either be #1 or #2 (would not be surprised if Purdue jumped them back).

Their results have not been very impressive before today. I watched a little of the Lehigh game. And I watched most of Auburn today. Two things stood out. Auburn took 33 foul shots and only made 21. Houston only took 12 foul shots. If Auburn shoots better from the line they would’ve won the game. Auburn’s size gave Houston trouble. Houston plays three guards and Auburn has a big team. Auburn consistently got the ball in the paint and passed well among their bigs, and got fouled.

They are going to be relentless, tough, athletic, won’t beat themselves, etc. this team plays like the Brunson Nova team on O. And of course plays their own great defense. (Second best in the country by the numbers)

But I do not think they are the best team in the country. And they have not shown it.

-they only averaged 73 points a game, playing a similar schedule to us.
-Auburn let up 70 points a game to 3 cupcakes and Houston only did three points better.
-they are susceptible to good interior passing.
-they are not the Uber physical team that they have been.
-Their numbers for assists, steals and blocks are very similar to ours
-They only go six deep with scorers. ( Playing them day 2 would’ve been better).
-they play two freshmen a lot just like us.

I think there’s a couple things that we need to do to have a chance. The first is not turn the ball over. The second is to use our size at the three with Kingz and White on Uzan.
They appear to be our best defenders. And then we can play Freeman on the perimeter with White on the block on a 6’9” 6’4” mismatch. I really believe White’s ability to defend a guard, and size advantage could be the key to the game if we take care of the ball.

Purdue beat Bama and Houston beat Auburn. They each blew out their other opponent . If they swap spots in the polls it would mean the pollsters are actually watching and breaking down the games

 

[NineOneSeven]

Houston has been the cream of the crop in college basketball for almost a decade. They’ve yet to win a title but they’ve put themselves in the conversation seemingly every year recently.

This will be a serious test. I don’t expect to win. Honestly keeping it to single digits might be a win. If we can get over 65 points, I’d call that a success as well. I certainly hope we can make it a game and at least put some pressure on them to execute late, like Auburn did. Would be a great time for Kingz to have a 5-8 from 3 shooting game.

Again… Houston is an elite college program with a combination of experienced players, experienced coaching, and several athletic and physical players, as well as young guns.

Will be a hell of a test and for once in seemingly awhile I am looking forward to it.

In the meantime let’s get to 4-0!

 

[CuseTG2003]

Great test. Houston's been very good for a long time now, but I hate their brand of bball.

 

[Orangezoo]

Great test. Houston's been very good for a long time now, but I hate their brand of bball.

I can’t stand Sampson but I really appreciate they have a brand and style they continue to stick with.

 

[Orangezoo]

Houston has been the cream of the crop in college basketball for almost a decade. They’ve yet to win a title but they’ve put themselves in the conversation seemingly every year recently.

This will be a serious test. I don’t expect to win. Honestly keeping it to single digits might be a win. If we can get over 65 points, I’d call that a success as well. I certainly hope we can make it a game and at least put some pressure on them to execute late, like Auburn did. Would be a great time for Kingz to have a 5-8 from 3 shooting game.

Again… Houston is an elite college program with a combination of experienced players, experienced coaching, and several athletic and physical players, as well as young guns.

Will be a hell of a test and for once in seemingly awhile I am looking forward to it.

In the meantime let’s get to 4-0!

No disagreement on this but I will say this is the most different team for Houston in a while in terms of how much they have to lean on freshmen than Sampson has had there maybe since he even took the job. Which just means there is a great opportunity here. No expectations but a great opportunity.

Really glad they beat an Auburn team that will likely have a number of struggles this year under Pearls son with his first ever gig at this level. Auburn has beat up a couple teams since their near disaster vs Bethune but still is not a game I would feel good about losing even on the road if I’m Houston and certainly the last thing we want to take away from the nothing to lose opportunity here.

I will just add that we were a few possessions short with a much weaker team last year from beating Texas and Texas Tech. That obviously went belly up vs good teams the rest of the year but to me it just magnifies the confidence we need this staff to have in pushing the kids to go shock everyone to re establish this program in Vegas.

 

[NineOneSeven]

No disagreement on this but I will say this is the most different team for Houston in a while in terms of how much they have to lean on freshmen than Sampson has had there maybe since he even took the job. Which just means there is a great opportunity here. No expectations but a great opportunity.

Really glad they beat an Auburn team that will likely have a number of struggles this year under Pearls son with his first ever gig at this level. Auburn has beat up a couple teams since their near disaster vs Bethune but still is not a game I would feel good about losing even on the road if I’m Houston and certainly the last thing we want to take away from the nothing to lose opportunity here.

I will just add that we were a few possessions short with a much weaker team last year from beating Texas and Texas Tech. That obviously went belly up vs good teams the rest of the year but to me it just magnifies the confidence we need this staff to have in pushing the kids to go shock everyone to re establish this program in Vegas.

Certainly a great opportunity.

 

[FrancoPizza]

Great test. Houston's been very good for a long time now, but I hate their brand of bball.

Does it remind you of Butler when they were coached by Brad?

 

[CardiacCuse]

Houston plays Rider and we play Monmouth before we meet. They will either be #1 or #2 (would not be surprised if Purdue jumped them back).

Their results have not been very impressive before today. I watched a little of the Lehigh game. And I watched most of Auburn today. Two things stood out. Auburn took 33 foul shots and only made 21. Houston only took 12 foul shots. If Auburn shoots better from the line they would’ve won the game. Auburn’s size gave Houston trouble. Houston plays three guards and Auburn has a big team. Auburn consistently got the ball in the paint and passed well among their bigs, and got fouled.

They are going to be relentless, tough, athletic, won’t beat themselves, etc. this team plays like the Brunson Nova team on O. And of course plays their own great defense. (Second best in the country by the numbers)

But I do not think they are the best team in the country. And they have not shown it.

-they only averaged 73 points a game, playing a similar schedule to us.
-Auburn let up 70 points a game to 3 cupcakes and Houston only did three points better.
-they are susceptible to good interior passing.
-they are not the Uber physical team that they have been.
-Their numbers for assists, steals and blocks are very similar to ours
-They only go six deep with scorers. ( Playing them day 2 would’ve been better).
-they play two freshmen a lot just like us.

I think there’s a couple things that we need to do to have a chance. The first is not turn the ball over. The second is to use our size at the three with Kingz and White on Uzan.
They appear to be our best defenders. And then we can play Freeman on the perimeter with White on the block on a 6’9” 6’4” mismatch. I really believe White’s ability to defend a guard, and size advantage could be the key to the game if we take care of the ball.

I watched the condensed game and got a similar impression to you

Syracuse can win the game with defense, if they play great defensively...to stop houston, Cenac and flemings are the keys. stop/limit those 2 and I predict an SU win. easier said than done, though, obviously.

i really like the idea of freeman vs cenac...this is a great chance for donnie to make a splash nationally .SU recruited Cenac and this offseason I saw his tape and he was the one recruit I really wanted. he was an absolute beast vs Auburn. wow. but he is just a freshman and cannot play perfectly every game. im not uber confident freeman can outperform cenac but it is possible. IF freeman can play better than cenac, SU will win, imo. but maybe Kyle or even white will guard him or maybe even suare...but he is key...OTOH donnie has to stay in it mentally if the early part of the game goes cenacs way...

and the guard flemings is so good too...but
i think white has to play big minutes and I think he can cover him.

overall, the houston auburn game was crazy athletic but also very high level and intelligent ball from the highlights. it will be a tall task for the orange, no doubt.

I think SU has a deeper team in terms of offensive weapons, which will be the case all year and is a big advantage...I think they can throw more at houston in terms of different options. If they find an option that is cooking...need to keep feeding it. and same with the D. red really needs to win the chess match...and imo he has more pieces than sampson. sampson has great pieces, dont get me wrong, but this SU team is deep. esp with JJ back, which i expect will be the case.

im also very curious to see how kiyan reacts. if he can do what hes been doing vs this level of defense, watch out! im 50/50 on that...I think he will do well...but it could go either way.

 

[Eric15]

Not a big deal, but I was looking forward to playing Houston while they were #1. They dropped to #2 in the latest poll.

 

[atlanticuse]

Not a single vote. Shame

 

[CuseTG2003]

Does it remind you of Butler when they were coached by Brad?

Yes, on steroids (i.e., much better athletes).

 

[Archbold44]

Houston plays Rider and we play Monmouth before we meet. They will either be #1 or #2 (would not be surprised if Purdue jumped them back).

Their results have not been very impressive before today. I watched a little of the Lehigh game. And I watched most of Auburn today. Two things stood out. Auburn took 33 foul shots and only made 21. Houston only took 12 foul shots. If Auburn shoots better from the line they would’ve won the game. Auburn’s size gave Houston trouble. Houston plays three guards and Auburn has a big team. Auburn consistently got the ball in the paint and passed well among their bigs, and got fouled.

They are going to be relentless, tough, athletic, won’t beat themselves, etc. this team plays like the Brunson Nova team on O. And of course plays their own great defense. (Second best in the country by the numbers)

But I do not think they are the best team in the country. And they have not shown it.

-they only averaged 73 points a game, playing a similar schedule to us.
-Auburn let up 70 points a game to 3 cupcakes and Houston only did three points better.
-they are susceptible to good interior passing.
-they are not the Uber physical team that they have been.
-Their numbers for assists, steals and blocks are very similar to ours
-They only go six deep with scorers. ( Playing them day 2 would’ve been better).
-they play two freshmen a lot just like us.

I think there’s a couple things that we need to do to have a chance. The first is not turn the ball over. The second is to use our size at the three with Kingz and White on Uzan.
They appear to be our best defenders. And then we can play Freeman on the perimeter with White on the block on a 6’9” 6’4” mismatch. I really believe White’s ability to defend a guard, and size advantage could be the key to the game if we take care of the ball.

Will not beat ourselves
Atheletic
Relentless
Tough

So you are saying that Houston is WART?

 

[FrancoPizza]

#5 for Houston loves to carry on the post-up. Every single time.

Good thing we know Red will hammer the refs on this.

 

[pfister1]

Ugh, HOUSTON ?!?!?!?!?

We may have a problem...